JESUS THE CHRIST

             A study of the Messiah and His Mission according to
                   Holy Scriptures both Ancient and Modern

                             by James E. Talmage


                              Table of Contents 


                     Jesus the Christ: Table of Contents

	 CHAPTER 1     Introduction
	 CHAPTER 2     Preexistence and Foreordination of the Christ
	 CHAPTER 3     The Need of a Redeemer
	 CHAPTER 4     The Antemortal Godship of Christ
	 CHAPTER 5     Earthly Advent of the Christ Predicted
	 CHAPTER 6     The Meridian of Time
	 CHAPTER 7     Gabriel's Annunciation of John and of Jesus
	 CHAPTER 8     The Babe of Bethlehem
	 CHAPTER 9     The Boy of Nazareth
	 CHAPTER 10    In the Wilderness of Judea
	 CHAPTER 11    From Judea to Galilee
	 CHAPTER 12    Early Incidents in Our Lord's Public Ministry
	 CHAPTER 13    Honored by Strangers, Rejected By His Own
	 CHAPTER 14    Continuation of Our Lord's Ministry in Galilee
	 CHAPTER 15    The Lord of the Sabbath
	 CHAPTER 16    The Chosen Twelve
	 CHAPTER 17    The Sermon on the Mount
	 CHAPTER 18    As One Having Authority
	 CHAPTER 19    "He Spake Many Things Unto Them in Parables"
	 CHAPTER 20    "Peace, Be Still"  Incidents Preliminary to the Voyage
	 CHAPTER 21    The Apostolic Mission, and Events Related Thereto Jesus
               Again in Nazareth
	 CHAPTER 22    A Period Of Darkening Opposition
	 CHAPTER 23    The Transfiguration
	 CHAPTER 24    From Sunshine to Shadow
	 CHAPTER 25    Jesus Again in Jerusalem Departure From Galilee
	 CHAPTER 26    Our Lord's Ministry in Perea and Judea
	 CHAPTER 27    Continuation of the Perean and Judean Ministry
	 CHAPTER 28    The Last Winter at The Feast of Dedication
	 CHAPTER 29    On To Jerusalem
	 CHAPTER 30    Jesus Returns to the Temple Daily
	 CHAPTER 31    The Close of Our Lord's Public Ministry
	 CHAPTER 32    Further Instruction to the Apostles
	 CHAPTER 33    The Last Supper and The Betrayal
	 CHAPTER 34    The Trial and Condemnation
	 CHAPTER 35    Death And Burial
	 CHAPTER 36    In the Realm of Disembodied Spirits
	 CHAPTER 37    The Resurrection and the Ascension
	 CHAPTER 38    The Apostolic Ministry
	 CHAPTER 39    Ministry of the Resurrected Christ on the Western
               Hemisphere
	 CHAPTER 40    The Long Night of Apostasy
	 CHAPTER 41    Personal Manifestations of God the Eternal Father and of
               His Son Jesus Christ in Modern Times
	 CHAPTER 42    Jesus the Christ to Return


                               JESUS THE CHRIST
                            CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

	It is a matter of history that, at or near the beginning of what has
since come to be known as the Christian era, the Man Jesus, surnamed the
Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea. The principal data as to His birth,
life, and death are so well attested as to be reasonably indisputable; they
are facts of record, and are accepted as essentially authentic by the
civilized world at large. True, there are diversities of deduction based on
alleged discrepancies in the records of the past as to circumstantial details;
but such differences are of strictly minor importance, for none of them nor
all taken together cast a shadow of rational doubt upon the historicity of the
earthly existence of the Man known in literature as Jesus of Nazareth.

	As to who and what He was there are dissensions of grave moment dividing
the opinions of men; and this divergence of conception and belief is most
pronounced upon those matters to which the greatest importance attaches. The
solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in
proclaiming Him as divine, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior
of the human race, the Eternal Judge of the souls of men, the Chosen and
Anointed of the Father -- in short, the Christ. Others there are who deny His
Godhood while extolling the transcendent qualities of His unparalleled and
unapproachable Manhood.

	To the student of history this Man among men stands first, foremost, and
alone, as a directing personality in the world's progression. Mankind has
never produced a leader to rank with Him. Regarded solely as a historic
personage He is unique. Judged by the standard of human estimation, Jesus of
Nazareth is supreme among men by reason of the excellence of His personal
character, the simplicity, beauty, and genuine worth of His precepts, and the
influence of His example and doctrines in the advancement of the race. To
these distinguishing characteristics of surpassing greatness the devout
Christian soul adds an attribute that far exceeds the sum of all the others --
the divinity of Christ's origin and the eternal reality of His status as Lord
and God.

	Christian and unbeliever alike acknowledge His supremacy as a Man, and
respect the epoch-making significance of His birth. Christ was born in the
meridian of time; and His life on earth marked at once the culmination of the
past and the inauguration of an era distinctive in human hope, endeavor, and
achievement. His advent determined a new order in the reckoning of the years;
and by common consent the centuries antedating His birth have been counted
backward from the pivotal event and are designated accordingly. The rise and
fall of dynasties, the birth and dissolution of nations, all the cycles of
history as to war and peace, as to prosperity and adversity, as to health and
pestilence, seasons of plenty and of famine, the awful happenings of
earthquake and storm, the triumphs of invention and discovery, the epochs of
man's development in godliness and the long periods of his dwindling in
unbelief -- all the occurrences that make history -- are chronicled throughout
Christendom by reference to the year before or after the birth of Jesus
Christ.

	His earthly life covered a period of thirty-three years; and of these but
three were spent by Him as an acknowledged Teacher openly engaged in the
activities of public ministry. He was brought to a violent death before He had
attained what we now regard as the age of manhood's prime. As an individual He
was personally known to but few; and His fame as a world character became
general only after His death.

	Brief account of some of His words and works has been preserved to us;
and this record, fragmentary and incomplete though it be, is rightly esteemed
as the world's greatest treasure. The earliest and most extended history of
His mortal existence is embodied within the compilation of Scriptures known as
the New Testament; indeed but little is said of Him by secular historians of
His time. Few and short as are the allusions to Him made by non-scriptural
writers in the period immediately following that of His ministry, enough is
found to corroborate the sacred record as to the actuality and period of
Christ's earthly existence.

	No adequate biography of Jesus as Boy and Man has been or can be written,
for the sufficing reason that a fullness of data is lacking. Nevertheless, man
never lived of whom more has been said and sung, none to whom is devoted a
greater proportion of the world's literature. He is extolled by Christian,
Mohammedan and Jew, by skeptic and infidel, by the world's greatest poets,
philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and historians. Even the profane sinner
in the foul sacrilege of his oath acclaims the divine supremacy of Him whose
name he desecrates.

	The purpose of the present treatise is that of considering the life and
mission of Jesus as the Christ. In this undertaking we are to be guided by the
light of both ancient and modern scriptures; and, thus led, we shall discover,
even in the early stages of our course, that the word of God as revealed in
latter days is effective in illuming and making plain the Holy Writ of ancient
times, and this, in many matters of the profoundest import.

	Instead of beginning our study with the earthly birth of the Holy Babe of
Bethlehem, we shall consider the part taken by the Firstborn Son of God in the
primeval councils of heaven, at the time when He was chosen and ordained to be
the Savior of the unborn race of mortals, the Redeemer of a world then in its
formative stages of development. We are to study Him as the Creator of the
world, as the Word of Power, through whom the purposes of the Eternal Father
were realized in the preparation of the earth for the abode of His myriad
spirit-children during the appointed period of their mortal probation. Jesus
Christ was and is Jehovah, the God of Adam and of Noah, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, the God at whose instance the prophets of
the ages have spoken, the God of all nations, and He who shall yet reign on
earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.

	His wondrous yet natural birth, His immaculate life in the flesh, and His
voluntary death as a consecrated sacrifice for the sins of mankind, shall
claim our reverent attention; as shall also His redeeming service in the world
of disembodied spirits; His literal resurrection from bodily death to
immortality; His several appearings to men and His continued ministry as the
Resurrected Lord on both continents; the reestablishment of His Church through
His personal presence and that of the Eternal Father in the latter days; and
His coming to His temple in the current dispensation. All these developments
in the ministration of the Christ are already of the past. Our proposed course
of investigation will lead yet onward, into the future concerning which the
word of divine revelation is of record. We shall consider the conditions
incident to the Lord's return in power and glory to inaugurate the dominion of
the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, and to usher in the predicted Millennium of
peace and righteousness. And yet beyond we shall follow Him, through the
post-Millennial conflict between the powers of heaven and the forces of hell,
to the completion of His victory over Satan, sin, and death, when He shall
present the glorified earth and its sanctified hosts, spotless and
celestialized, unto the Father.

	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms her possession of
divine authority for the use of the sacred name, Jesus Christ, as the
essential part of her distinctive designation. In view of this exalted claim,
it is pertinent to inquire as to what special or particular message the Church
has to give to the world concerning the Redeemer and Savior of the race, and
as to what she has to say in justification of her solemn affirmation, or in
vindication of her exclusive name and title. As we proceed with our study, we
shall find that among the specific teachings of the Church respecting the
Christ are these:

	(1) The unity and continuity of His mission in all ages -- this of
necessity involving the verity of His preexistence and foreordination. (2) The
fact of His antemortal Godship. (3) The actuality of His birth in the flesh as
the natural issue of divine and mortal parentage. (4) The reality of His death
and physical resurrection, as a result of which the power of death shall be
eventually overcome. (5) The literalness of the atonement wrought by Him,
including the absolute requirement of individual compliance with the laws and
ordinances of His gospel as the means by which salvation may be attained. (6)
The restoration of His Priesthood and the reestablishment of His Church in the
current age, which is verily the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. (7)
The certainty of His return to earth in the near future, with power and great
glory, to reign in Person and bodily presence as Lord and King.


           CHAPTER 2 PREEXISTENCE AND FOREORDINATION OF THE CHRIST

	We affirm, on the authority of Holy Scripture, that the Being who is
known among men as Jesus of Nazareth, and by all who acknowledge His Godhood
as Jesus the Christ, existed with the Father prior to birth in the flesh; and
that in the preexistent state He was chosen and ordained to be the one and
only Savior and Redeemer of the human race. Foreordination implies and
comprises preexistence as an essential condition; therefore scriptures bearing
upon the one are germane to the other; and consequently in this presentation
no segregation of evidence as applying specifically to the preexistence of
Christ or to His foreordination will be attempted.

	John the Revelator beheld in vision some of the scenes that had been
enacted in the spirit-world before the beginning of human history. He
witnessed strife and contention between loyalty and rebellion, with the hosts
defending the former led by Michael the archangel, and the rebellious forces
captained by Satan, who is also called the devil, the serpent, and the dragon.
We read: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels."

	In this struggle between unembodied hosts the forces were unequally
divided; Satan drew to his standard only a third part of the children of God,
who are symbolized as the "stars of heaven"; the majority either fought with
Michael, or at least refrained from active opposition, thus accomplishing the
purpose of their "first estate"; while the angels who arrayed themselves on
the side of Satan "kept not their first estate," and therefore rendered
themselves ineligible for the glorious possibilities of an advanced condition
or "second estate." The victory was with Michael and his angels; and Satan or
Lucifer, theretofore a "son of the morning," was cast out of heaven, yea "he
was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." The
prophet Isaiah, to whom these momentous occurrences had been revealed about
eight centuries prior to the time of John's writings, laments with inspired
pathos the fall of so great a one; and specifies selfish ambition as the
occasion: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how
art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast
said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be
like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of
the pit."

	Justification for citing these scriptures in connection with our present
consideration will be found in the cause of the great contention -- the
conditions that led to this war in heaven. It is plain from the words of
Isaiah that Lucifer, already of exalted rank, sought to aggrandize himself
without regard to the rights and agency of others. The matter is set forth, in
words that none may misapprehend, in a revelation given to Moses and repeated
through the first prophet of the present dispensation: "And I, the Lord God,
spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of
mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came
before me, saying -- Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will
redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it;
wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my
Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me -- Father, thy will be
done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled
against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God,
had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the
power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; and he
became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to
blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not
hearken unto my voice."

	Thus it is shown that prior to the placing of man upon the earth, how
long before we do not know, Christ and Satan, together with the hosts of the
spirit-children of God, existed as intelligent individuals, possessing power
and opportunity to choose the course they would pursue and the leaders whom
they would follow and obey. In that great concourse of spirit-intelligences,
the Father's plan, whereby His children would be advanced to their second
estate, was submitted and doubtless discussed. The opportunity so placed
within the reach of the spirits who were to be privileged to take bodies upon
the earth was so transcendently glorious that those heavenly multitudes burst
forth into song and shouted for joy

	Satan's plan of compulsion, whereby all would be safely conducted through
the career of mortality, bereft of freedom to act and agency to choose, so
circumscribed that they would be compelled to do right -- that one soul would
not be lost -- was rejected; and the humble offer of Jesus the Firstborn -- to
assume mortality and live among men as their Exemplar and Teacher, observing
the sanctity of man's agency but teaching men to use aright that divine
heritage -- was accepted. The decision brought war, which resulted in the
vanquishment of Satan and his angels, who were cast out and deprived of the
boundless privileges incident to the mortal or second estate.

	In that august council of the angels and the Gods, the Being who later
was born in flesh as Mary's Son, Jesus, took prominent part, and there was He
ordained of the Father to be the Savior of mankind. As to time, the term being
used in the sense of all duration past, this is our earliest record of the
Firstborn among the sons of God; to us who read, it marks the beginning of the
written history of Jesus the Christ.

	Old Testament scriptures, while abounding in promises relating to the
actuality of Christ's advent in the flesh, are less specific in information
concerning His antemortal existence. By the children of Israel, while living
under the law and still unprepared to receive the gospel, the Messiah was
looked for as one to be born in the lineage of Abraham and David, empowered to
deliver them from personal and national burdens, and to vanquish their
enemies. The actuality of the Messiah's status as the chosen Son of God, who
was with the Father from the beginning, a Being of preexistent power and
glory, was but dimly perceived, if conceived at all, by the people in general;
and although to prophets specially commissioned in the authorities and
privileges of the Holy Priesthood, revelation of the great truth was given,
they transmitted it to the people rather in the language of imagery and
parable than in words of direct plainness. Nevertheless the testimony of the
evangelists and the apostles, the attestation of the Christ Himself while in
the flesh, and the revelations given in the present dispensation leave us
without dearth of scriptural proof.

	In the opening lines of the Gospel book written by John the apostle, we
read: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;
and without him was not anything made that was made.... And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

	The passage is simple, precise and unambiguous. We may reasonably give to
the phrase "In the beginning" the same meaning as attaches thereto in the
first line of Genesis; and such signification must indicate a time antecedent
to the earliest stages of human existence upon the earth. That the Word is
Jesus Christ, who was with the Father in that beginning and who was Himself
invested with the powers and rank of Godship, and that He came into the world
and dwelt among men, are definitely affirmed. These statements are
corroborated through a revelation given to Moses, in which he was permitted to
see many of the creations of God, and to hear the voice of the Father with
respect to the things that had been made: "And by the word of my power, have I
created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and
truth."

	John the apostle repeatedly affirms the preexistence of the Christ and
the fact of His authority and power in the antemortal state. To the same
effect is the testimony of Paul and of Peter. Instructing the saints
concerning the basis of their faith, the last-named apostle impressed upon
them that their redemption was not to be secured through corruptible things
nor by the outward observance of traditional requirements, "But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you."

	Even more impressive and yet more truly conclusive are the personal
testimonies of the Savior as to His own preexistent life and the mission among
men to which He had been appointed. No one who accepts Jesus as the Messiah
can consistently reject these evidences of His eternal nature. When, on a
certain occasion, the Jews in the synagogue disputed among themselves and
murmured because of their failure to understand aright His doctrine concerning
Himself, especially as touching His relationship with the Father, Jesus said
unto them: "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will
of him that sent me." And then, continuing the lesson based upon the contrast
between the manna with which their fathers had been fed in the wilderness and
the bread of life which He had to offer, He added: "I am the living bread
which came down from heaven," and again declared "the living Father hath sent
me." Not a few of the disciples failed to comprehend His teachings; and their
complaints drew from Him these words: "Doth this offend you? What and if ye
shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?"

	To certain wicked Jews, wrapped in the mantle of racial pride, boastful
of their descent through the lineage of Abraham, and seeking to excuse their
sins through an unwarranted use of the great patriarch's name, our Lord thus
proclaimed His own preeminence: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham was, I am." The fuller significance of this remark will be treated
later; suffice it in the present connection to consider this scripture as a
plain avowal of our Lord's seniority and supremacy over Abraham. But as
Abraham's birth had preceded that of Christ by more than nineteen centuries,
such seniority must have reference to a state of existence antedating that of
mortality.

	When the hour of His betrayal was near, in the last interview with the
apostles prior to His agonizing experience in Gethsemane, Jesus comforted them
saying: "For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have
believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." Furthermore,
in the course of upwelling prayer for those who had been true to their
testimony of His Messiahship, He addressed the Father with this solemn
invocation: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father
glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was."

	Book of Mormon scriptures are likewise explicit in proof of the
preexistence of the Christ and of His foreappointed mission. One only of the
many evidences therein found will be cited here. An ancient prophet,
designated in the record as the brother of Jared, once pleaded with the Lord
in special supplication: "And the Lord said unto him, Believest thou the words
which I shall speak? And he answered, Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the
truth, for thou art a God of truth, and canst not lie. And when he had said
these words, behold, the Lord shewed himself unto him, and said, Because thou
knowest these things, ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought
back into my presence; therefore I shew myself unto you. Behold, I am he who
was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I
am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have
light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they
shall become my sons and my daughters. And never have I shewed myself unto man
whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou
that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in
the beginning, after mine own image. Behold, this body, which ye now behold,
is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit;
and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will I appear unto my
people in the flesh." The main facts attested by this scripture as having a
direct bearing upon our present subject are those of the Christ manifesting
Himself while yet in His antemortal state, and of His declaration that He had
been chosen from the foundation of the world as the Redeemer.

	Revelation given through the prophets of God in the present dispensation
is replete with evidence of Christ's appointment and ordination in the
primeval world; and the whole tenor of the scriptures contained in the
Doctrine and Covenants may be called in witness. The following instances are
particularly in point. In a communication to Joseph Smith the prophet, in May,
1833, the Lord declared Himself as the One who had previously come into the
world from the Father, and of whom John had borne testimony as the Word; and
the solemn truth is reiterated that He, Jesus Christ, "was in the beginning,
before the world was," and further, that He was the Redeemer who "came into
the world, because the world was made by him, and in him was the life of men
and the light of men." Again, He is referred to as "the Only Begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth, even the Spirit of truth, which came and
dwelt in the flesh." In the course of the same revelation the Lord said: "And
now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father and am the
firstborn." On an earlier occasion, as the modern prophet testifies, he and
an associate in the priesthood were enlightened by the Spirit so that they
were able to see and understand the things of God -- "Even those things which
were from the beginning before the world was, which were ordained of the
Father, through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father,
even from the beginning; Of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear
is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and
with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision."

	The testimony of scriptures written on both hemispheres, that of records
both ancient and modern, the inspired utterances of prophets and apostles, and
the words of the Lord Himself, are of one voice in proclaiming the
preexistence of the Christ and His ordination as the chosen Savior and
Redeemer of mankind -- in the beginning, yea, even before the foundation of
the world.

	NOTES TO CHAPTER 2

	1. Graded Intelligences in the Antemortal State. -- That the spirits of
men existed as individual intelligences, of varying degrees of ability and
power, prior to the inauguration of the mortal state upon this earth and even
prior to the creation of the world as a suitable abode for human beings, is
shown in great plainness through a divine revelation to Abraham: "Now the Lord
had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the
world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;
and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of
them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that
were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham,
thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born." (Abr. 3:22-23.)

	That both Christ and Satan were among those exalted intelligences, and
that Christ was chosen while Satan was rejected as the future Savior of
mankind, are shown by the portions of the revelation immediately following
that above quoted: "And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and
he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space
there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon
these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all
things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep
their first estate shall be added upon, and they who keep not their first
estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their
first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added
upon their heads forever and ever. And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And
one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another
answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the
first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that
day, many followed after him." (Abr. 3:24-28.)

	2. The Primeval Council in the Heavens. -- "It is definitely stated in
the Book of Genesis that God said, `Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness'; and again, after Adam had taken of the forbidden fruit the Lord
said, `Behold, the man has become as one of us'; and the inference is direct
that in all that related to the work of the creation of the world there was a
consultation; and though God spake as it is recorded in the Bible, yet it is
evident He counseled with others. The scriptures tell us there are `Gods many
and Lords many. But to us there is but one God, the Father' (1 Cor. 8:5). And
for this reason, though there were others engaged in the creation of the
worlds, it is given to us in the Bible in the shape that it is; for the
fulness of these truths is only revealed to highly favored persons for certain
reasons known to God; as we are told in the scriptures: `The secret of the
Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.' -- Psalm
25: 14.

	"It is consistent to believe that at this Council in the heavens the plan
that should be adopted in relation to the sons of God who were then spirits,
and had not yet obtained tabernacles, was duly considered. For, in view of the
creation of the world and the placing of men upon it, whereby it would be
possible for them to obtain tabernacles, and in those tabernacles obey laws of
life, and with them again be exalted among the Gods, we are told that at that
time, `the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy.' The question then arose, how, and upon what principle, should the
salvation, exaltation and eternal glory of God's sons be brought about? It is
evident that at that Council certain plans had been proposed and discussed,
and that after a full discussion of those principles, and the declaration of
the Father's will pertaining to His design, Lucifer came before the Father
with a plan of his own, saying, `Behold [here am] I; send me, I will be thy
son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and
surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor.' But Jesus, on hearing
this statement made by Lucifer, said, `Father, thy will be done, and the glory
be thine forever.' From these remarks made by the well beloved Son, we should
naturally infer that in the discussion of this subject the Father had made
known His will and developed His plan and design pertaining to these matters,
and all that His well beloved Son wanted to do was to carry out the will of
His Father, as it would appear had been before expressed. He also wished the
glory to be given to His Father, who, as God the Father, and the originator
and designer of the plan, had a right to all the honor and glory. But Lucifer
wanted to introduce a plan contrary to the will of his Father, and then wanted
His honor, and said: `I will save every soul of man, wherefore give me thine
honor.' He wanted to go contrary to the will of his Father, and presumptuously
sought to deprive man of his free agency, thus making him a serf, and placing
him in a position in which it was impossible for him to obtain that exaltation
which God designed should be man's, through obedience to the law which He had
suggested; and again, Lucifer wanted the honor and power of his Father, to
enable him to carry out principles which were contrary to the Father's wish."
-- John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, pp. 93-94.

	3. The Jaredites. -- "Of the two nations whose histories constitute the
Book of Mormon, the first in order of time consisted of the people of Jared,
who followed their leader from the Tower of Babel at the time of the confusion
of tongues. Their history was written on twenty-four plates of gold by Ether,
the last of their prophets, who, foreseeing the destruction of his people
because of their wickedness, hid away the historical plates. They were
afterward found, B.C. 123, by an expedition sent out by King Limhi, a Nephite
ruler. The record engraved on these plates was subsequently abridged by
Moroni, and the condensed account was attached by him to the Book of Mormon
record; it appears in the modern translation under the name of the Book of
Ether.

	"The first and chief prophet of the Jaredites is not mentioned by name in
the record as we have it; he is known only as the brother of Jared. Of the
people, we learn that, amid the confusion of Babel, Jared and his brother
importuned the Lord that He would spare them and their associates from the
impending disruption. Their prayer was heard, and the Lord led them with a
considerable company, who, like themselves, were free from the taint of
idolatry, away from their homes, promising to conduct them to a land choice
above all other lands. Their course of travel is not given with exactness; we
learn only that they reached the ocean, and there constructed eight vessels,
called barges, in which they set out upon the waters. These vessels were small
and dark within; but the Lord made luminous certain stones, which gave light
to the imprisoned voyagers. After a passage of three hundred and forty-four
days, the colony landed on the western shore of North America, probably at a
place south of the Gulf of California, and north of the Isthmus of panama.

	"Here they became a flourishing nation; but, giving way in time to
internal dissensions, they divided into factions, which warred with one
another until the people were totally destroyed. This destruction, which
occurred near the hill Ramah, afterward known among the Nephites as Cumorah,
probably took place at about the time of Lehi's landing in South America --
590 B.C." -- James E. Talmage, Articles of Faith, pp. 260-61.


                      CHAPTER 3 THE NEED OF A REDEEMER  

	We have heretofore shown that the entire human race existed as
spirit-beings in the primeval world, and that for the purpose of making
possible to them the experiences of mortality this earth was created. They
were endowed with the powers of agency or choice while yet but spirits; and
the divine plan provided that they be free-born in the flesh, heirs to the
inalienable birthright of liberty to choose and to act for themselves in
mortality. It is undeniably essential to the eternal progression of God's
children that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil, that
they be tried and tested and proved withal, "to see if they will do all things
whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them." Free agency is an
indispensable element of such a test.

	The Eternal Father well understood the diverse natures and varied
capacities of His spirit-offspring; and His infinite foreknowledge made plain
to Him, even in the beginning, that in the school of life some of His children
would succeed and others would fail; some would be faithful, others false;
some would choose the good, others the evil; some would seek the way of life
while others would elect to follow the road to destruction. He further foresaw
that death would enter the world, and that the possession of bodies by His
children would be of but brief individual duration. He saw that His
commandments would be disobeyed and His law violated; and that men, shut out
from His presence and left to themselves, would sink rather than rise, would
retrogress rather than advance, and would be lost to the heavens. It was
necessary that a means of redemption be provided, whereby erring man might
make amends, and by compliance with established law achieve

	Salvation and eventual exaltation in the eternal worlds. The power of
death was to be overcome, so that, though men would of necessity die, they
would live anew, their spirits clothed with immortalized bodies over which
death could not again prevail.

	Let not ignorance and thoughtlessness lead us into the error of assuming
that the Father's foreknowledge as to what would be, under given conditions,
determined that such must be. It was not His design that the souls of mankind
be lost; on the contrary it was and is His work and glory, "to bring to pass
the immortality and eternal life of man."  Nevertheless He saw the evil into
which His children would assuredly fall, and with infinite love and mercy did
He ordain means of averting the dire effect, provided the transgressor would
elect to avail himself thereof.  The offer of the firstborn Son to establish
through His own ministry among men the gospel of salvation, and to sacrifice
Himself, through labor, humiliation and suffering even unto death, was
accepted and made the foreordained plan of man's redemption from death, of his
eventual salvation from the effects of sin, and of his possible exaltation
through righteous achievement.

	In accordance with the plan adopted in the council of the Gods, man was
created as an embodied spirit; his tabernacle of flesh was composed of the
elements of earth.  He was given commandment and law, and was free to obey or
disobey -- with the just and inevitable condition that he should enjoy or
suffer the natural results of his choice. Adam, the first man placed upon
the earth in pursuance of the established plan, and Eve who was given unto him
as companion and associate, indispensable to him in the appointed mission of
peopling the earth, disobeyed the express commandment of God and so brought
about the "fall of man," whereby the mortal state, of which death is an
essential element was inaugurated. It is not proposed to consider here at
length the doctrine of the fall; for the present argument it is sufficient to
establish the fact of the momentous occurrence and its portentous
consequences. The woman was deceived, and in direct violation of counsel and
commandment partook of the food that had been forbidden, as a result of which
act her body became degenerate and subject to death. Adam realized the
disparity that had been brought between him and his companion, and with some
measure of understanding followed her course, thus becoming her partner in
bodily degeneracy. Note in this matter the words of Paul the apostle: "Adam
was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

	The man and the woman had now become mortal; through indulgence in food
unsuited to their nature and condition and against which they had been
specifically warned, and as the inevitable result of their disobeying the
divine law and commandment, they became liable to the physical ailments and
bodily frailties to which mankind has since been the natural heir. Those
bodies, which before the fall had been perfect in form and function, were now
subjects for eventual dissolution or death. The arch-tempter through whose
sophistries, half-truths and infamous falsehoods, Eve had been beguiled, was
none other than Satan, or Lucifer, that rebellious and fallen "son of the
morning," whose proposal involving the destruction of man's liberty had been
rejected in the council of the heavens, and who had been "cast out into the
earth," he and all his angels as unembodied spirits, never to be tabernacled
in bodies of their own. As an act of diabolic reprisal following his
rejection in the council, his defeat by Michael and the heavenly hosts, and
his ignominious expulsion from heaven, Satan planned to destroy the bodies in
which the faithful spirits -- those who had kept their first estate -- would
be born; and his beguilement of Eve was but an early stage of that infernal
scheme.

	Death has come to be the universal heritage; it may claim its victim in
infancy or youth, in the period of life's prime, or its summons may be
deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head; it may
befall as the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say,
through natural causes; but come it must, as Satan well knows; and in this
knowledge is his present though but temporary triumph. But the purposes of
God, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely superior to the
deepest designs of men or devils; and the Satanic machinations to make death
inevitable, perpetual and supreme were provided against even before the first
man had been created in the flesh. The atonement to be wrought by Jesus the
Christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from
the power of Satan.

	As the penalty incident to the fall came upon the race through an
individual act, it would be manifestly unjust, and therefore impossible as
part of the divine purpose, to make all men suffer the results thereof without
provision for deliverance. Moreover, since by the transgression of one man
sin came into the world and death was entailed upon all, it is consistent with
reason that the atonement thus made necessary should be wrought by one.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:... Therefore as by the
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life." So taught the apostle Paul; and, further, "For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

	The atonement was plainly to be a vicarious sacrifice, voluntary and
love-inspired on the Savior's part, universal in its application to mankind so
far as men shall accept the means of deliverance thus placed within their
reach. For such a mission only one who was without sin could be eligible. Even
the altar victims of ancient Israel offered as a provisional propitiation for
the offenses of the people under the Mosaic law had to be clean and devoid of
spot or blemish; otherwise they were unacceptable and the attempt to offer
them was sacrilege. Jesus Christ was the only Being suited to the
requirements of the great sacrifice:

	1 -- As the one and only sinless Man;

	2 -- As the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore the only Being born
to earth possessing in their fulness the attributes of both Godhood and
manhood;

	3 -- As the One who had been chosen in the heavens and foreordained to
this service.

	What other man has been without sin, and therefore wholly exempt from the
dominion of Satan, and to whom death, the wage of sin, is not naturally due?
Had Jesus Christ met death as other men have done -- the result of the power
that Satan has gained over them through their sins -- His death would have
been but an individual experience, expiatory in no degree of any faults or
offenses but His own. Christ's absolute sinlessness made Him eligible, His
humility and willingness rendered Him acceptable to the Father, as the atoning
sacrifice whereby propitiation could be made for the sins of all men.

	What other man has lived with power to withstand death, over whom death
could not prevail except through his own submission? Yet Jesus Christ could
not be slain until His "hour had come," and that, the hour in which He
voluntarily surrendered His life, and permitted His own decease through an act
of will. Born of a mortal mother He inherited the capacity to die; begotten by
an immortal Sire He possessed as a heritage the power to withstand death
indefinitely. He literally gave up His life; to this effect is His own
affirmation: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life,
that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." And
further: "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son
to have life in himself." Only such a One could conquer death; in none but
Jesus the Christ was realized this requisite condition of a Redeemer of the
world.

	What other man has come to earth with such appointment, clothed with the
authority of such foreordination? The atoning mission of Jesus Christ was no
self-assumption. True, He had offered Himself when the call was made in the
heavens; true, He has been accepted, and in due time came to earth to carry
into effect the terms of that acceptance; but He was chosen by One greater
than Himself. The burden of His confession of authority was ever to the effect
that He operated under the direction of the Father, as witness these words: "I
came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me." "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his
work." "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my
judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father
which hath sent me."

	Through the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ -- a redeeming
service, vicariously rendered in behalf of mankind, all of whom have become
estranged from God by the effects of sin both inherited and individually
incurred -- the way is opened for a reconciliation whereby man may come again
into communion with God, and be made fit to dwell anew and forever in the
presence of his Eternal Father. This basal thought is admirably implied in our
English word, "atonement," which, as its syllables attest, is at-one-ment,
"denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who have
been estranged." The effect of the atonement may be conveniently considered
as twofold:

	1 -- The universal redemption of the human race from death invoked by the
fall of our first parents; and,

	2 -- Salvation, whereby means of relief from the results of individual
sin are provided.

	The victory over death was made manifest in the resurrection of the
crucified Christ; He was the first to pass from death to immortality and so is
justly known as "the first fruits of them that slept." That the resurrection
of the dead so inaugurated is to be extended to every one who has or shall
have lived is proved by an abundance of scriptural evidence. Following our
Lord's resurrection, others who had slept in the tomb arose and were seen of
many, not as spirit-apparitions but as resurrected beings possessing
immortalized bodies: "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the
saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection,
and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

	Those who thus early came forth are spoken of as "the saints"; and other
scriptures confirm the fact that only the righteous shall be brought forth in
the earlier stages of the resurrection yet to be consummated; but that all the
dead shall in turn resume bodies of flesh and bones is placed beyond doubt by
the revealed word. The Savior's direct affirmation ought to be conclusive:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead
shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live....
Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation." The doctrine of a universal resurrection was
taught by the apostles of old, as also by the Nephite prophets; and the same
is confirmed by revelation incident to the present dispensation. Even the
heathen who have not known God shall be brought forth from their graves; and,
inasmuch as they have lived and died in ignorance of the saving law, a means
of making the plan of salvation known unto them is provided. "And then shall
the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in
the first resurrection."

	Jacob, a Nephite prophet, taught the universality of the resurrection,
and set forth the absolute need of a Redeemer, without whom the purposes of
God in the creation of man would be rendered futile. His words constitute a
concise and forceful summary of revealed truth directly bearing upon our
present subject:

	"For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of
the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the
resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came
by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen, they were cut off
from the presence of the Lord; wherefore it must needs be an infinite
atonement; save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not
put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man, must
needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have
laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O the
wisdom of God! his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no
more, our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the
presence of the eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our
spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a
devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the
father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled
our first parents; who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and
stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder, and all
manner of secret works of darkness. O how great the goodness of our God, who
prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that
monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the
death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the
Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal,
shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I
have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which
spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead,
and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up
its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one
to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of
Israel. O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise
of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up
the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself
again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living
souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh; save it be that
our knowledge shall be perfect".

	The application of the atonement to individual transgression, whereby the
sinner may obtain absolution through compliance with the laws and ordinances
embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is conclusively attested by scripture.
Since forgiveness of sins can be secured in none other way, there being either
in heaven or earth no name save that of Jesus Christ whereby salvation shall
come unto the children of men, every soul stands in need of the Savior's
mediation, since all are sinners. "For all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God," said Paul of old and John the apostle added his testimony in
these words: "If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us."

	Who shall question the justice of God, which denies salvation to all who
will not comply with the prescribed conditions on which alone it is declared
obtainable? Christ is "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey
him," and God "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who
by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,
eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth,
but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon
every soul of man that doeth evil."

	Such then is the need of a Redeemer, for without Him mankind would
forever remain in a fallen state, and as to hope of eternal progression would
be inevitably lost. The mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for
advancement; but so great are the difficulties and the dangers, so strong is
the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto,
that without the aid of a power above that of humanity no soul would find its
way back to God from whom it came. The need of a Redeemer lies in the
inability of man to raise himself from the temporal to the spiritual plane,
from the lower kingdom to the higher. In this conception we are not without
analogies in the natural world. We recognize a fundamental distinction between
inanimate and living matter, between the inorganic and the organic, between
the lifeless mineral on the one hand and the living plant or animal on the
other. Within the limitations of its order the dead mineral grows by accretion
of substance, and may attain a relatively perfect condition of structure and
form as is seen in the crystal. But mineral matter, though acted upon
favorably by the forces of nature -- light, heat, electric energy and others
-- can never become a living organism; nor can the dead elements, through any
process of chemical combination dissociated from life, enter into the tissues
of the plant as essential parts thereof. But the plant, which is of a higher
order, sends its rootlets into the earth, spreads its leaves in the
atmosphere, and through these organs absorbs the solutions of the soil,
inspires the gases of the air, and front such lifeless materials weaves the
tissue of its wondrous structure. No mineral particle, no dead chemical
substance has ever been made a constituent of organic tissue except through
the agency of life. We may, perhaps with profit, carry the analogy a step
farther. The plant is unable to advance its own tissue to the animal plane.
Though it be the recognized order of nature that the "animal kingdom" is
dependent upon the "vegetable kingdom" for its sustenance, the substance of
the plant may become part of the animal organism only as the latter reaches
down from its higher plane and by its own vital action incorporates the
vegetable compounds with itself. In turn, animal matter can never become, even
transitorily, part of a human body, except as the living man assimilates it,
and by the vital processes of his own existence lifts, for the time being, the
substance of the animal that supplied him food to the higher plane of his own
existence. The comparison herein employed is admittedly defective if carried
beyond reasonable limits of application; for the raising of mineral matter to
the plane of the plant, vegetable tissue to the level of the animal, and the
elevation of either to the human plane, is but a temporary change; with the
dissolution of the higher tissues the material thereof falls again to the
level of the inanimate and the dead. But, as a means of illustration the
analogy may not be wholly without value.

	So, for the advancement of man from his present fallen and relatively
degenerate state to the higher condition of spiritual life, a power above his
own must cooperate. Through the operation of the laws obtaining in the higher
kingdom man may be reached and lifted; himself he cannot save by his own
unaided effort. A Redeemer and Savior of mankind is beyond all question
essential to the realization of the plan of the Eternal Father, "to bring to
pass the immortality and eternal life of man"; and that Redeemer and Savior
is Jesus the Christ, beside whom there is and can be none other.

	NOTES TO CHAPTER 3

	1. God's Foreknowledge Not a Determining Cause. -- "Respecting the
foreknowledge of God, let it not be said that divine omniscience is of itself
a determining cause whereby events are inevitably brought to pass. A mortal
father, who knows the weaknesses and frailties of his son, may by reason of
that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities and sufferings awaiting his
wayward boy. He may foresee in that son's future a forfeiture of blessings
that could have been won, loss of position, self-respect, reputation and
honor; even the dark shadows of a felon's cell and the night of a drunkard's
grave may appear in the saddening visions of that fond father's soul; yet,
convinced by experience of the impossibility of bringing about that son's
reform, he foresees the dread developments of the future, and he finds but
sorrow and anguish in his knowledge. Can it be said that the father's
foreknowledge is a cause of the son's sinful life? The son, perchance, has
reached his maturity; he is the master of his own destiny; a free agent unto
himself. The father is powerless to control by force or to direct by arbitrary
command; and, while he would gladly make any effort or sacrifice to save his
son from the fate impending, he fears for what seems to be an awful certainty.
But surely that thoughtful, prayerful, loving parent does not, because of his
knowledge, contribute to the son's waywardness. To reason otherwise would be
to say that a neglectful father, who takes not the trouble to study the nature
and character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful tendencies, and rests
in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very
heartlessness be benefiting his child, because his lack of forethought cannot
operate as a contributory cause to dereliction.

	"Our Heavenly Father has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition
of each of His children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience
in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with
which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their
children is infinitesimally small. By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God
reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men
collectively as communities and nations; He knows what each will do under
given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is
based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which
naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because He has
arbitrarily willed that it shall be." -- James E. Talmage, The Great Apostasy,
pp. 19-20.

	2. Man Free to Choose for Himself. -- "The father of souls has endowed
His children with the divine birthright of free agency; He does not and will
not control them by arbitrary force; He impels no man toward sin; He compels
none to righteousness. Unto man has been given freedom to act for himself;
and, associated with this independence, is the fact of strict responsibility
and the assurance of individual accountability. In the judgment with which we
shall be judged, all the conditions and circumstances of our lives shall be
considered. The inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment
whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teachings of youth, or the
absence of good instruction -- these and all other contributory elements must
be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the soul's
guilt or innocence. Nevertheless, the divine wisdom makes plain what will be
the result with given conditions operating on known natures and dispositions
of men, while every individual is free to choose good or evil within the
limits of the many conditions existing and operative." -- The Great Apostasy,
p. 21; see also Articles of Faith, pp. 74-75.

	3. The Fall a Process of Physical Degeneracy. -- A modern revelation
given to the Church in 1833 (D&C 89), prescribes rules for right living,
particularly as regards the uses of stimulants, narcotics, and foods unsuited
to the body. Concerning the physical causes by which the fall was brought
about, and the close relation between those causes and current violations of
the Word of Wisdom embodied in the revelation referred to above, the following
is in point. "This, [the Word of Wisdom] like other revelations that have come
in the present dispensation, is not wholly new. It is as old as the human
race. The principle of the Word of Wisdom was revealed unto Adam. All the
essentials of the Word of Wisdom were made known unto him in his immortal
state, before he had taken into his body those things that made of it a thing
of earth. He was warned against that very practice. He was not told to treat
his body as something to be tortured. He was not told to look upon it as the
fakir of India has come to look upon his body, or professes to look upon it,
as a thing to be utterly condemned; but he was told that he must not take into
that body certain things which were there at hand. He was warned that, if he
did, his body would lose the power which it then held of living for ever, and
that he would become subject to death. It was pointed out to him, as it has
been pointed out to you, that there are many good fruits to be plucked, to be
eaten, to be enjoyed. We believe in enjoying good food. We think that these
good things are given us of God. We believe in getting all the enjoyment out
of eating that we can; and, therefore, we should avoid gluttony, and we should
avoid extremes in all our habits of eating; and as was told unto Adam, so is
it told unto us: Touch not these things, for in the day that thou doest it thy
life shall be shortened and thou shalt die.

	"Here let me say that therein consisted the fall -- the eating of things
unfit, the taking into the body of the things that made of that body a thing
of earth: and I take this occasion to raise my voice against the false
interpretation of scripture, which has been adopted by certain people, and is
current in their minds, and is referred to in a hushed and half-secret way,
that the fall of man consisted in some offense against the laws of chastity
and virtue. Such a doctrine is an abomination. What right have we to turn the
scriptures from their proper sense and meaning? What right have we to declare
that God meant not what He said? The fall was a natural process, resulting
through the incorporation into the bodies of our first parents of the things
that came from food unfit, through the violation of the command of God
regarding what they should eat. Don't go around whispering that the fall
consisted in the mother of the race losing her chastity and her virtue. It is
not true; the human race is not born of fornication.

	These bodies that are given unto us are given in the way that God has
provided. Let it not be said that the patriarch of the race, who stood with
the gods before he came here upon the earth, and his equally royal consort,
were guilty of any such foul offense. The adoption of that belief has led many
to excuse departures from the path of chastity and the path of virtue, by
saying that it is the sin of the race, that it is as old as Adam. It was not
introduced by Adam. It was not committed by Eve. It was the introduction of
the devil and came in order that he might sow the seeds of early death in the
bodies of men and women, that the race should degenerate as it has degenerated
whenever the laws of virtue and of chastity have been transgressed.

	"Our first parents were pure and noble, and when we pass behind the veil
we shall perhaps learn something of their high estate, more than we know now.
But be it known that they were pure; they were noble. It is true that they
disobeyed the law of God, in eating things they were told not to eat; but who
amongst you can rise up and condemn?" -- From an address by the author at the
Eighty-fourth Semiannual Conference of the Church, Oct. 6, 1913; Conference
Report, pp. 118-19.

	4. Christ Wrought Redemption from the Fall -- "The Savior thus becomes
master of the situation -- the debt is paid, the redemption made, the covenant
fulfilled, justice satisfied, the will of God done, and all power is now given
into the hands of the Son of God -- the power of the resurrection, the power
of the redemption, the power of salvation, the power to enact laws for the
carrying out and accomplishment of this design. Hence life and immortality are
brought to light, the gospel is introduced, and He becomes the author of
eternal life and exaltation. He is the Redeemer, the Resurrector, the Savior
of man and the world; and He has appointed the law of the gospel as the medium
which must be complied with in this world or the next, as He complied with His
Father's law; hence `he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth
not shall be damned.' The plan, the arrangement, the agreement, the covenant
was made, entered into and accepted before the foundation of the world; it was
pre-figured by sacrifices, and was carried out and consummated on the cross.
Hence being the mediator between God and man, He becomes by right the dictator
and director on earth and in heaven for the living and for the dead, for the
past, the present and the future, pertaining to man as associated with this
earth or the heavens, in time or eternity, the Captain of our salvation, the
Apostle and High-Priest of our profession, the Lord and Giver of life." --
John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement, p. 171.

	5. Redemption from the Effect of the Fall -- "`Mormonism' accepts the
doctrine of the fall, and the account of the transgression in Eden, as set
forth in Genesis; but it affirms that none but Adam is or shall be answerable
for Adam's disobedience; that mankind in general are absolutely absolved from
responsibility for that `original sin,' and that each shall account for his
own transgressions alone; that the fall was foreknown of God, that it was
turned to good effect by which the necessary condition of mortality should be
inaugurated; and that a Redeemer was provided before the world was; that
general salvation, in the sense of redemption from the effects of the fall,
comes to all without their seeking it; but that individual salvation or rescue
from the effects of personal sins is to be acquired by each for himself by
faith and good works through the redemption wrought by Jesus Christ." -- James
E. Talmage, Story and Philosophy of `Mormonism,' p. 111.


                 CHAPTER 4 THE ANTEMORTAL GODSHIP OF CHRIST  

	It now becomes our purpose to inquire as to the position and status of
Jesus the Christ in the antemortal world, from the period of the solemn
council in heaven, in which He was chosen to be the future Savior and Redeemer
of mankind, to the time at which He was born in the flesh.

	We claim scriptural authority for the assertion that Jesus Christ was and
is God the Creator, the God who revealed Himself to Adam, Enoch, and all the
antediluvial patriarchs and prophets down to Noah; the God of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob; the God of Israel as a united people, and the God of Ephraim and
Judah after the disruption of the Hebrew nation; the God who made Himself
known to the prophets from Moses to Malachi; the God of the Old Testament
record; and the God of the Nephites. We affirm that Jesus Christ was and is
Jehovah, the Eternal One.

	The scriptures specify three personages in the Godhead; (1) God the
Eternal Father, (2) His Son Jesus Christ, and (3) the Holy Ghost. These
constitute the Holy Trinity, comprising three physically separate and distinct
individuals, who together constitute the presiding council of the heavens. At
least two of these appear as directing participants in the work of creation;
this fact is instanced by the plurality expressed in Genesis: "And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness"; and later, in the course of
consultation concerning Adam's act of transgression, "the Lord God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us." From the words of Moses, as revealed
anew in the present dispensation, we learn more fully of the Gods who were
actively engaged in the creation of this earth: "And I, God, said unto mine
Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness." Then, further, with regard to the condition of
Adam after the fall: "I, the Lord God, said unto mine Only Begotten: Behold,
the man is become as one of us." In the account of the creation recorded by
Abraham, "the Gods" are repeatedly mentioned.

	As heretofore shown in another connection, the Father operated in the
work of creation through the Son, who thus became the executive through whom
the will, commandment, or word of the Father was put into effect. It is with
incisive appropriateness therefore, that the Son, Jesus Christ, is designated
by the apostle John as the Word; or as declared by the Father "the word of my
power. The part taken by Jesus Christ in the creation, a part so prominent as
to justify our calling Him the Creator, is set forth in many scriptures. The
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews refers in this wise distinctively to the
Father and the Son as separate though associated Beings: "God, who at sundry
times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." Paul is even
more explicit in his letter to the Colossians, wherein, speaking of Jesus the
Son, he says: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and
for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." And
here let be repeated the testimony of John, that by the Word, who was with
God, and who was God even in the beginning, all things were made; "and without
him was not anything made that was made."

	That the Christ who was to come was in reality God the Creator was
revealed in plainness to the prophets on the western hemisphere. Samuel, the
converted Lamanite, in preaching to the unbelieving Nephites justified his
testimony as follows: "And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all
things, from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming,
to the intent that ye might believe on his name."

	To these citations of ancient scripture may most properly be added the
personal testimony of the Lord Jesus after He had become a resurrected Being.
In His visitation to the Nephites He thus proclaimed Himself: "Behold, I am
Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all
things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the
Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified his name."
To the Nephites, who failed to comprehend the relation between the gospel
declared unto them by the Resurrected Lord, and the Mosaic law which they held
traditionally to be in force, and who marveled at His saying that old things
had passed away, He explained in this wise: "Behold I say unto you, that the
law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses. Behold, I am he that gave the law,
and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel: therefore, the law in me is
fulfilled, for I have come to fulfil the law; therefore it hath an end."

	Through revelation in the present or last dispensation the voice of Jesus
Christ, the Creator of heaven and earth, has been heard anew: "Hearken, O ye
people of my church to whom the kingdom has been given -- hearken ye and give
ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all
the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and
have a being." And again, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of the living
God, who created the heavens and the earth; a light which cannot be hid in
darkness."

	The divinity of Jesus Christ is indicated by the specific names and
titles authoritatively applied to Him. According to man's judgment there may
be but little importance attached to names; but in the nomenclature of the
Gods every name is a title of power or station. God is righteously zealous of
the sanctity of His own name and of names given by His appointment. In the
case of children of promise names have been prescribed before birth; this is
true of our Lord Jesus and of the Baptist, John, who was sent to prepare the
way for the Christ. Names of persons have been changed by divine direction,
when not sufficiently definite as titles denoting the particular service to
which the bearers were called, or the special blessings conferred upon them.

	Jesus is the individual name of the Savior, and as thus spelled is of
Greek derivation; its Hebrew equivalent was Yehoshua or Yeshua, or, as we
render it in English, Joshua. In the original the name was well understood as
meaning "Help of Jehovah," or "Savior." Though as common an appellation as
John or Henry or Charles today, the name was nevertheless divinely prescribed,
as already stated. Thus, unto Joseph, the espoused husband of the Virgin, the
angel said, "And thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people
from their sins."

	Christ is a sacred title, and not an ordinary appellation or common name;
it is of Greek derivation, and in meaning is identical with its Hebrew
equivalent Messiah or Messias, signifying the Anointed One. Other titles,
each possessing a definitive meaning, such as Emmanuel, Savior, Redeemer, Only
Begotten Son, Lord, Son of God, Son of Man, and many more, are of scriptural
occurrence; the fact of main present importance to us is that these several
titles are expressive of our Lord's divine origin and Godship. As seen, the
essential names or titles of Jesus the Christ were made known before His
birth, and were revealed to prophets who preceded Him in the mortal state.

	Jehovah is the Anglicized rendering of the Hebrew, Yahveh or Jahveh,
signifying the Self-existent One, or The Eternal. This name is generally
rendered in our English version of the Old Testament as LORD, printed in
capitals. The Hebrew, Ehyeh, signifying I Am, is related in meaning and
through derivation with the term Yahveh or Jehovah, and herein lies the
significance of this name by which the Lord revealed Himself to Moses when the
latter received the commission to go into Egypt and deliver the children of
Israel from bondage: "Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the
children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent
me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto
them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." In the
succeeding verse the Lord declares Himself to be "the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." While Moses was in Egypt, the Lord further
revealed Himself, saying "I am the LORD.: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by thy name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was
I not known to them." The central fact connoted by this name, I Am, or
Jehovah, the two having essentially the same meaning, is that of existence or
duration that shall have no end, and which, judged by all human standards of
reckoning, could have had no beginning; the name is related to such other
titles as Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

	Jesus, when once assailed with question and criticism from certain Jews
who regarded their Abrahamic lineage as an assurance of divine preferment, met
their abusive words with the declaration: "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Before Abraham was, I am." The true significance of this saying would be more
plainly expressed were the sentence punctuated and pointed as follows:
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham, was I AM"; which means the
same as had He said -- Before Abraham, was I, Jehovah. The captious Jews were
so offended at hearing Him use a name which, through an erroneous rendering of
an earlier Scripture, they held was not to be uttered on pain of death, that
they immediately took up stones with the intent of killing Him. The Jews
regarded Jehovah as an ineffable name, not to be spoken; they substituted for
it the sacred, though to them the not-forbidden name, Adonai, signifying the
Lord. The original of the terms Lord and God as they appear in the Old
Testament, was either Yahveh or Adonai; and the divine Being designated by
these sacred names was, as shown by the scriptures cited, Jesus the Christ.
John, evangelist and apostle, positively identifies Jesus Christ with Adonai,
or the Lord who spoke through the voice of Isaiah, and with Jehovah who spoke
through Zechariah.

	The name Elohim is of frequent occurrence in the Hebrew texts of the Old
Testament, though it is not found in our English versions. In form the word is
a Hebrew plural noun; but it connotes the plurality of excellence or
intensity, rather than distinctively of number. It is expressive of supreme or
absolute exaltation and power. Elohim, as understood and used in the restored
Church of Jesus Christ, is the name-title of God the Eternal Father, whose
firstborn Son in the spirit is Jehovah -- the Only Begotten in the flesh,
Jesus Christ.

	Jesus of Nazareth, who in solemn testimony to the Jews declared Himself
the I Am or Jehovah, who was God before Abraham lived on earth, was the same
Being who is repeatedly proclaimed as the God who made covenant with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; the God who led Israel from the bondage of Egypt to the
freedom of the promised land, the one and only God known by direct and
personal revelation to the Hebrew prophets in general.

	The identity of Jesus Christ with the Jehovah of the Israelites was well
understood by the Nephite prophets, and the truth of their teachings was
confirmed by the risen Lord who manifested Himself unto them shortly after His
ascension from the midst of the apostles at Jerusalem. This is the record:
"And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying, Arise and come
forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye
may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know
that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been
slain for the sins of the world."

	It would appear unnecessary to cite at greater length in substantiating
our affirmation that Jesus Christ was God even before He assumed a body of
flesh. During that antemortal period there was essential difference between
the Father and the Son, in that the former had already passed through the
experiences of mortal life, including death and resurrection, and was
therefore a Being possessed of a perfect, immortalized body of flesh and
bones, while the Son was yet unembodied. Through His death and subsequent
resurrection Jesus the Christ is today a Being like unto the Father in all
essential characteristics.

	A general consideration of scriptural evidence leads to the conclusion
that God the Eternal Father has manifested Himself to earthly prophets or
revelators on very few occasions, and then principally to attest the divine
authority of His Son, Jesus Christ. As before shown, the Son was the active
executive in the work of creation; throughout the creative scenes the Father
appears mostly in a directing or consulting capacity. Unto Adam, Enoch, Noah,
Abraham and Moses the Father revealed Himself, attesting the Godship of the
Christ, and the fact that the Son was the chosen Savior of mankind. On the
occasion of the baptism of Jesus, the Father's voice was heard, saying, "This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; and at the transfiguration a
similar testimony was given by the Father. On an occasion yet later, while
Jesus prayed in anguish of soul, submitting Himself that the Father's purposes
be fulfilled and the Father's name glorified, "Then came there a voice from
heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." The
resurrected and glorified Christ was announced by the Father to the Nephites
on the western hemisphere, in these words: "Behold my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name: hear ye him." From the
time of the occurrence last noted, the voice of the Father was not heard again
among men, so far as the scriptures aver, until the spring of 1820, when both
the Father and the Son ministered unto the prophet Joseph Smith, the Father
saying, "This is my beloved Son, hear him!" These are the instances of record
in which the Eternal Father has been manifest in personal utterance or other
revelation to man apart from the Son. God the Creator, the Jehovah of Israel,
the Savior and Redeemer of all nations, kindreds and tongues, are the same,
and He is Jesus the Christ.

	NOTES TO CHAPTER 4

	1. Names Given of God. -- The significance of names when given of God
finds illustration in many scriptural instances. The following are examples:
"Jesus," meaning Savior (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:31); "John," signifying Jehovah's
gift, specifically applied to the Baptist, who was sent to earth to prepare
the way for Jehovah's coming in the flesh (Luke 1:13); "Ishmael," signifying
God shall hear him (Gen. 16:11); "Isaac," meaning laughter (Gen. 17:19,
compare 18:10-15). As instances of names changed by divine authority to
express added blessings, or special callings, consider the following: "Abram,"
which connoted nobility or exaltation and as usually rendered, father of
elevation, was changed to "Abraham," father of a multitude which expressed the
reason for the change as given at the time thereof, "for a father of many
nations have I made thee" (Gen. 17:5). "Sarai," the name of Abraham's wife,
and of uncertain distinctive meaning, was substituted by "Sarah" which
signified the princess (Gen. 17:15). "Jacob," a name given to the son of Isaac
with reference to a circumstance attending his birth, and signifying a
supplanter, was superseded by "Israel" meaning a soldier of God, a prince of
God, as expressed in the words effecting the change, "Thy name shall be called
no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with
men, and hast prevailed." (Gen. 32:28; compare 35:9-10.) "Simon," meaning a
hearer, the name of the man who became the chief apostle of Jesus Christ, was
changed by the Lord to "Cephas" (Aramaic) or "Peter" (Greek) meaning a rock
John 1:42; Matt. 16:18; Luke 6:14). On James and John the sons of Zebedee, the
Lord conferred the name or title "Boanerges" meaning sons of thunder (Mark
3:17).

	The following is an instructive excerpt: "Name in the scriptures not only
that by which a person is designated, but frequently all that is known to
belong to the person having this designation, and the person himself. Thus
`the name of God' or `of Jehovah,' etc., indicates His authority (Deut. 18:20;
Matt. 21:9, etc.), His dignity and glory (Isa. 48:9, etc.), His protection and
favor (Prov. 18:10, etc.), His character (Ex. 34:5, 14, compare 6-7, etc.),
His divine attributes in general (Matt. 6:9, etc.), etc. The Lord is said to
set or put His name where the revelation or manifestation of His perfections
is made (Deut. 12:5, 14:24, etc.). To believe in or on the name of Christ is
to receive and treat Him in accordance with the revelation which the
scriptures make of Him John 1:12; 2:23), etc." -- Smith's Comprehensive
Dictionary of the Bible, "Name."

	2. Jesus Christ, the God of Israel. -- "That Jesus Christ was the same
Being who called Abraham from his native country, who led Israel out of the
land of Egypt with mighty miracles and wonders, who made known to them His law
amid the thunderings of Sinai, who delivered them from their enemies, who
chastened them for their disobedience, who inspired their prophets, and whose
glory filled Solomon's temple, is evident from all the inspired writings, and
in none more so than in the Bible.

	"His lamentation over Jerusalem evidences that, in His humanity, He had
not forgotten His former exalted position: `O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that
killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together,... and ye would not!' (Matt.
23:37). It was this Creator of the world, this mighty Ruler, this Controller
of the destinies of the human family, who, in His last moments, cried out in
the agony of His soul, `My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'" (Mark
15:34.) -- Franklin D. Richards and James A. Little, Compendium of the
Doctrines of the Gospel.

	3. "Jehovah" a Name Not Uttered by the Jews. -- Long prior to the time of
Christ, certain schools among the Jews, ever intent on the observance of the
letter of the law, though not without disregard of its spirit, had taught that
the mere utterance of the name of God was blasphemous, and that the sin of so
doing constituted a capital offense. This extreme conception arose from the
accepted though uninspired interpretation of Lev. 24:16, "And he that
blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the
congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is
born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to
death." We take the following from Smith's Comprehensive Dictionary of the
Bible, article "Jehovah": "The true pronunciation of this name, [Yehovah] by
which God was known to the Hebrews, has been entirely lost, the Jews
themselves scrupulously avoiding every mention of it, and substituting in its
stead one or other of the words with whose proper vowel-points it may happen
to be written [Adonai, Lord, or Elohim, God].... According to Jewish tradition
it was pronounced but once a year by the high priest on the day of atonement
when he entered the Holy of Holies; but on this point there is some doubt."


              CHAPTER 5 EARTHLY ADVENT OF THE CHRIST PREDICTED  

	The coming of Christ to earth to tabernacle in the flesh was no
unexpected or unheralded event. For centuries prior to the great occurrence
the Jews had professed to be looking for the advent of their King; and, in the
appointed ceremonials of worship as in private devotions, the coming of the
promised Messiah was prominent as a matter of the supplication of Israel to
Jehovah. True, there was much diversity in lay opinion and in rabbinical
exposition as to the time and manner of His appearing; but the certainty
thereof was fundamentally established in the beliefs and hopes of the Hebrew
nation.

	The records known to us as the books of the Old Testament, together with
other inspired writings once regarded as authentic but excluded from later
compilations as not strictly canonical, were current among the Hebrews at and
long before the time of Christ's birth. These scriptures had their beginning
in the proclamation of the law through Moses, who wrote the same, and
delivered the writing into the official custody of the priests with an express
command that it be read in the assemblies of the people at stated times. To
these earlier writings were added the utterances of divinely commissioned
prophets, the records of appointed historians, and the songs of inspired
poets, as the centuries passed; so that at the time of our Lord's ministry the
Jews possessed a great accumulation of writings accepted and revered by them
as authoritative. These records are rich in prediction and promise respecting
the earthly advent of the Messiah, as are other scriptures to which the Israel
of old had not access.

	Adam, the patriarch of the race, rejoiced in the assurance of the
Savior's appointed ministry, through the acceptance of which, he, the
transgressor, might gain redemption. Brief mention of the plan of salvation,
the author of which is Jesus Christ, appears in the promise given of God
following the fall -- that though the devil, represented by the serpent in
Eden, should have power to bruise the heel of Adam's posterity, through the
seed of the woman should come the power to bruise the adversary's head. It is
significant that this assurance of eventual victory over sin and its
inevitable effect, death, both of which were introduced to earth through Satan
the arch-enemy of mankind, was to be realized through the offspring of woman;
the promise was not made specifically to the man, nor to the pair. The only
instance of offspring from woman dissociated from mortal fatherhood is the
birth of Jesus the Christ, who was the earthly Son of a mortal mother,
begotten by an immortal Father. He is the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father
in the flesh, and was born of woman.

	Through scriptures other than those embodied in the Old Testament we
learn with greater fulness of the revelations of God to Adam respecting the
coming of the Redeemer. As a natural and inevitable result of his
disobedience, Adam had forfeited the high privilege he once enjoyed -- that of
holding direct and personal association with his God; nevertheless in his
fallen state he was visited by an angel of the Lord, who revealed unto him the
plan of redemption: "And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto
Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto
him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying:
This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the
Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that
thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in
the name of the Son for evermore. And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon
Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only
Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and for ever, that as
thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as
will."

	The Lord's revelation to Adam making known the ordained plan whereby the
Son of God was to take upon Himself flesh in the meridian of time, and become
the Redeemer of the world, was attested by Enoch, son of Jared and father of
Methuselah. From the words of Enoch we learn that to him as to his great
progenitor, Adam, the very name by which the Savior would be known among men
was revealed -- "which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given
under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men." The
recorded covenant of God with Abraham, and the reiteration and confirmation
thereof with Isaac and in turn with Jacob -- that through their posterity
should all nations of the earth be blessed -- presaged the birth of the
Redeemer through that chosen lineage. Its fulfillment is the blessed heritage
of the ages.

	In pronouncing his patriarchal blessing upon the head of Judah, Jacob
prophesied: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the
people be." That by Shiloh is meant the Christ is evidenced by the
fulfillment of the conditions set forth in the prediction, in the state of the
Jewish nation at the time of our Lord's birth.

	Moses proclaimed the coming of a great Prophet in Israel, whose ministry
was to be of such importance that all men who would not accept Him would be
under condemnation; and that this prediction had sole reference to Jesus
Christ is conclusively shown by later scriptures. Thus spake the Lord unto
Moses: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto
thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all
that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not
hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of
him." The system of sacrifice expressly enjoined in the Mosaic code was
essentially a prototype of the sacrificial death to be accomplished by the
Savior on Calvary. The blood of countless altar victims, slain by Israel's
priests in the course of prescribed ritual, ran throughout the centuries from
Moses to Christ as a prophetic flood in similitude of the blood of the Son of
God appointed to be shed as an expiatory sacrifice for the redemption of the
race. But, as already shown, the institution of bloody sacrifice as a type of
the future death of Jesus Christ dates from the beginning of human history;
since the offering of animal sacrifices through the shedding of blood was
required of Adam, to whom the significance of the ordinance, as "a similitude
of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father," was expressly defined.

	The paschal lamb, slain for every Israelitish household at the annually
recurring feast of the Passover, was a particular type of the Lamb of God who
in due time would be slain for the sins of the world. The crucifixion of
Christ was effected at the Passover season; and the consummation of the
supreme Sacrifice, of which the paschal lambs had been but lesser prototypes,
led Paul the apostle to affirm in later times: "For even Christ our passover
is sacrificed for us."

	Job in the day of dire affliction rejoiced in his testimony of the coming
Messiah, and declared with prophetic conviction: "I know that my redeemer
liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." The songs
of David the psalmist abound in oft-recurring allusion to the earthly life of
Christ, many circumstances of which are described in detail, and, as to these,
corroboration of the utterances is found in New Testament scriptures.

	Isaiah, whose prophetic office was honored by the personal testimony of
Christ and the apostles, manifested in numerous passages the burden of his
conviction relating to the great event of the Savior's advent and ministry on
earth. With the forcefulness of direct revelation he told of the Virgin's
divine maternity, whereof Immanuel should be born, and his prediction was
reiterated by the angel of the Lord, over seven centuries later. Looking down
through the ages the prophet saw the accomplishment of the divine purposes as
if already achieved, and sang in triumph: "For unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father,
The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall
be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever."

	Immediately prior to its fulfillment, the blessed promise was repeated by
Gabriel, sent from the presence of God to the Chosen Virgin of Nazareth. As
made known to the prophet and by him proclaimed, the coming Lord was the
living Branch that should spring from the undying root typified in the family
of Jesse; the foundation Stone insuring the stability of Zion; the Shepherd
of the house of

	Israel; the Light of the world, to Gentile as well as Jew; the Leader
and Commander of His people. The same inspired voice predicted the forerunner
who should cry in the wilderness: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God."

	Isaiah was permitted to read the scroll of futurity as to many
distinguishing conditions to attend the Messiah's lowly life and atoning
death. In Him the prophet saw One who would be despised and rejected of men, a
Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, One to be wounded and bruised for the
transgressions of the race, on whom would be laid the iniquity of us all -- a
patient and willing Sacrifice, silent under affliction, as a lamb brought to
the slaughter. The Lord's dying with sinners, and His burial in the tomb of
the wealthy were likewise declared with prophetic certainty.

	Unto Jeremiah came the word of the Lord in terms of plainness, declaring
the sure advent of the King by whom the safety of both Judah and Israel should
be assured; the Prince of the House of David, through whom the divine promise
to the son of Jesse should be realized. Under the same spirit prophesied
Ezekiel, Hosea  and Micah  Zechariah broke off in the midst of fateful
prediction to voice the glad song of thanksgiving and praise as he beheld in
vision the simple pageantry of the King's triumphal entry into the city of
David. Then the prophet bewailed the grief of the conscience-smitten nation,
by whom, as was foreseen, the Savior of humankind would be pierced, even unto
death; and showed that, when subdued by contrition His own people would ask,
"What are these wounds in thy hands?", the Lord would answer: "Those with
which I was wounded in the house of my friends." The very price to be paid
for the betrayal of the Christ to His death was foretold as in parable.

	The fact, that these predictions of the Old Testament prophets had
reference to Jesus Christ and to Him only, is put beyond question by the
attestation of the resurrected Lord. To the assembled apostles He said: "These
are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the
prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their
understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day."

	John the Baptist, whose ministry immediately preceded that of the Christ,
proclaimed the coming of One mightier than himself, One who should baptize
with the Holy Ghost, and specifically identified Jesus of Nazareth as that
One, the Son of God, the Lamb who should assume the burden of the world's
sins.

	The predictions thus far cited as relating to the life, ministry, and
death of the Lord Jesus, are the utterances of prophets who, excepting Adam
and Enoch, lived and died on the eastern hemisphere. All save John the Baptist
are of Old Testament record, and he, a contemporary of the Christ in
mortality, figures in the early chapters of the Gospels. It is important to
know that the scriptures of the western hemisphere are likewise explicit in
the declaration of the great truth that the Son of God would be born in the
flesh. The Book of Mormon contains a history of a colony of Israelites, of the
tribe of Joseph, who left Jerusalem 600 B.C., during the reign of Zedekiah,
king of Judah, on the eve of the subjugation of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar and
the inauguration of the Babylonian captivity. This colony was led by divine
guidance to the American continent, whereon they developed into a numerous and
mighty people; though, divided by dissension, they formed two opposing nations
known respectively as Nephites and Lamanites. The former cultivated the arts
of industry and refinement, and preserved a record embodying both history and
scripture, while the latter became degenerate and debased. The Nephites
suffered extinction about 400 A.D., but the Lamanites lived on in their
degraded course, and are today extant upon the land as the American Indians.

	The Nephite annals from the beginning thereof down to the time of our
Lord's birth abound in prediction and promise of the Christ; and this
chronicle is followed by a record Of the actual visitation of the resurrected
Savior to the Nephites, and the establishment Of His Church among them. Unto
Lehi, the leader of the colony, the Lord revealed the time, place, and manner
Of Christ's then future advent, together with many important facts of His
ministry, and the preparatory work of John the forerunner. This revelation was
given while the company was journeying in the wilderness Of Arabia, prior to
their crossing the great waters. The prophecy is thus written by Nephi, a son
of Lehi and his successor in the prophetic calling: "Yea, even six hundred
years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord
God raise up among the Jews; even a Messiah; or, in other words, a Savior of
the world. And he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had
testified of these things concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or
this Redeemer of the world. Wherefore all mankind were in a lost and in a
fallen state, and ever would be, save they should rely on this Redeemer. And
he spake also concerning a prophet who should come before the Messiah, to
prepare the way of the Lord; yea, even he should go forth and cry in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make his paths straight; for
there standeth One among you whom ye know not; and he is mightier than I,
whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. And much spake my father
concerning this thing. And my father Said he Should baptize in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan; and he also said he should baptize with water; even that he
should baptize the Messiah with water. And after he had baptized the Messiah
with water, he should behold and bear record, that he had baptized the Lamb of
God, who should take away the sins of the world. And it came to pass after my
father had spoken these words, he spake unto my brethren concerning the gospel
which should be preached among the Jews; and also concerning the dwindling of
the Jews in unbelief. And after they had slain the Messiah, who Should come,
and after he had been slain, he should rise from the dead, and should make
himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles.

	At a later time Nephi writes, not as his father's scribe, but as a
prophet and revelator voicing the word of God as made known to himself. He was
permitted to behold in vision and to declare to his people the circumstances
of the Messiah's birth, His baptism by John and the ministration of the Holy
Ghost with its accompanying sign of the dove; he beheld our Lord moving as a
Teacher of righteousness among the people, healing the afflicted and rebuking
spirits of evil; he saw and bore record of the dread scenes of Calvary; he
beheld and predicted the calling Of the chosen Twelve, the apostles of the
Lamb, for so these were designated by Him who vouchsafed the vision. Moreover
he told of the iniquity of the Jews, who were seen in contention with the
apostles; and thus concludes the portentous prophecy: "And the angel of the
Lord spake unto me again, saying, Thus shall be the destruction Of all
nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the twelve
apostles of the Lamb." Soon after the defection whereby the distinction
between Nephites and Lamanites was established, Jacob, a brother of Nephi,
continued in prophecy of the assured coming of the Messiah, specifically
declaring that He would minister at Jerusalem and affirming the necessity of
His atoning death as the ordained means of human redemption. The prophet
Abinadi, in his fearless denunciation of sin to the wicked king Noah, preached
the Christ who was to come; and righteous Benjamin, who was at once prophet
and king, proclaimed the same great truth to his people about 125 B.C. So
taught Alma in his inspired admonition to his wayward son, Corianton; and so
also Amulek in his contention with Zeezrom. So proclaimed the Lamanite
prophet, Samuel, only five years prior to the actual occurrence; furthermore
he specified the signs by which the birth of Jesus in Judea would be made
known to the people of the western world. Said he: "Behold, I give unto you a
sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God to
redeem all those who shall believe on his name. And behold, this will I give
unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be
great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there
shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day,
therefore there shall be one day and a night, and a day, as if it were one
day, and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye
shall know of the rising of the sun, and also of its setting; therefore they
shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless
the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.
And behold there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld;
and this also shall be a sign unto you. And behold this is not all, there
shall be many signs and wonders in heaven."

	Thus the scriptures of both hemispheres and in all ages of ante-meridian
time bore solemn testimony to the certainty of Messiah's advent; thus the holy
prophets of old voiced the word of revelation predicting the coming of the
world's King and Lord, through whom alone is salvation provided, and
redemption from death made sure. It is a characteristic of prophets sent of
God that they possess and proclaim a personal assurance of the Christ, "for
the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Not a word of inspired
prophecy relating to the great event has been found void. The literal
fulfilment of the predictions is ample attestation of their origin in divine
revelation, and proof conclusive of the divinity of Him whose coming was so
abundantly foretold.

	NOTES TO CHAPTER 5

	1. The Antiquity of Sacrifice as a Prototype of Christ's Atoning Death.
-- While the Biblical record expressly attests the offering of sacrifices long
prior to Israel's exodus from Egypt -- e.g. by Abel and by Cain (Gen. 4:3, 4);
by Noah after the deluge (Gen. 8:20); by Abraham (Gen. 22:2, 13); by Jacob
(Gen. 31:54; 46:1) -- it is silent concerning the divine origin of sacrifice
as a propitiatory requirement prefiguring the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
The difficulty of determining time and circumstance, under which the offering
of symbolical sacrifices originated amongst mankind, is recognized by all
investigators save those who admit the validity of modern revelation. The
necessity of assuming early instruction from God to man on the subject has
been asserted by many Bible scholars. Thus, the writer of the article
"Sacrifice" in the Cassell Bible Dictionary says: "The idea of sacrifice is
prominent throughout the scriptures, and one of the most ancient and widely
recognized in the rites of religion throughout the world. There is also a
remarkable similarity in the developments and applications of the idea. On
these and other accounts it has been judiciously inferred that sacrifice
formed an element in the primeval worship of man; and that its universality is
not merely an indirect argument for the unity of the human race, but an
illustration and confirmation of the first inspired pages of the world's
history. The notion of sacrifice can hardly be viewed as a product of
unassisted human nature, and must therefore be traced to a higher source and
viewed as a divine revelation to primitive man."

	Smith's Dict. of the Bible presents the following: "In tracing the
history of sacrifice from its first beginning to its perfect development in
the Mosaic ritual, we are at once met by the long-disputed question as to the
origin of sacrifice, whether it arose from a natural instinct of man,
sanctioned and guided by God, or was the subject of some distinct primeval
revelation. There can be no doubt that sacrifice was sanctioned by God's Law,
with a special, typical reference to the Atonement of Christ; its universal
prevalence, independent of, and often opposed to, man's natural reasonings on
his relation to God, shows it to have been primeval, and deeply rooted in the
instincts of humanity. Whether it was first enjoined by an external command,
or was based on that sense of sin and lost communion with God, which is
stamped by His hand on the heart of man -- is an historical question, perhaps
insoluble."

	The difficulty vanishes, and the "historical question" as to the origin
of sacrifice is definitely solved by the revelations of God in the current
dispensation, whereby parts of the record of Moses -- not contained in the
Bible -- have been restored to human knowledge. The scripture quoted in the
text (pp. 43, 44) makes clear the fact that the offering of sacrifices was
required of Adam after his transgression, and that the significance of the
divinely established requirement was explained in fullness to the patriarch of
the race. The shedding of the blood of animals in sacrifice to God, as a
prototype "of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father," dates from
the time immediately following the fall. Its origin is based on a specific
revelation to Adam. See Moses 5:5-8.

	2. Jacob's Prophecy Concerning "Shiloh." -- The prediction of the
patriarch Jacob -- that the sceptre should not depart from Judah before the
coming of Shiloh -- has given rise to much disputation among Bible students.
Some insist that "Shiloh" is the name of a place and not that of a person.
That there was a place known by that name is beyond question (see Josh. 18:1;
19:51; 21:2; 22:9; 1 Sam. 1:3; Jer. 7:12); but the name occurring in Gen.
49:10 is plainly that of a person. It should be known that the use of the word
in the King James or authorized version of the Bible is held to be correct by
many eminent authorities. Thus, in Dummelow's Commentary on the Holy Bible, we
read: "This verse has always been regarded by both Jews and Christians as a
remarkable prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.... On the rendering given
above, the whole verse foretells that Judah would retain authority until the
advent of the rightful ruler, the Messiah, to whom all peoples would gather.
And, broadly speaking, it may be said that the last traces of Jewish
legislative power (as vested in the Sanhedrin) did not disappear until the
coming of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem, from which time His kingdom
was set up among men."

	Adam Clarke, in his exhaustive Bible Commentary, briefly analyzes the
objections urged against the admissibility of this passage as applying to the
Messiah's advent, and dismisses them all as unfounded. His conclusion as to
the meaning of the passage is thus worded: "Judah shall continue a distinct
tribe until the Messiah shall come; and it did so; and after His coming it was
confounded with the others, so that all distinction has been ever since lost."

	Prof. Douglas, as cited in Smith's Dictionary, "claims that something of
Judah's sceptre still remained, a total eclipse being no proof that the day is
at an end -- that the proper fulfillment of the prophecy did not begin till
David's time, and is consummated in Christ according to Luke 1:32, 33."

	The accepted meaning of the word by derivation is "Peaceable," and this
is applicable to the attributes of the Christ, who in Isa. 9:6, is designated
the prince of peace.

	Eusebius, who lived between 260 and 339 A.D., and is known in
ecclesiastical history as Bishop of Caesarea, wrote: "At the time that Herod
was king, who was the first foreigner that reigned over the Jewish people, the
prophecy recorded by Moses received it fulfillment, viz. `That a prince should
not fail of Judah, nor a ruler from his loins, until He should come for whom
it is reserved, the expectation of nations.'" (The quoted passage is founded
on the Septuagint rendering of Genesis 49:10.)

	Some critics have held that in Jacob's use of the word "Shiloh" he did
not intend it as a name or proper noun at all. The writer of the article
"Shiloh" in Cassell's Bible Dictionary says: "The preponderance of evidence is
in favor of the Messianic interpretation, but opinions are very divided
respecting the retention of the word `Shiloh' as a proper name....
Notwithstanding all the objections that are urged against it being so
regarded, we are of the opinion that it is rightly considered to be a proper
name, and that the English version represents the true sense of the passage.
We recommend those who wish to enter more fully into a question which cannot
well be discussed without Hebrew criticism, to the excellent notes upon Gen.
49: 10 in the `Commentary on the Pentateuch' by Keil and Delitzsch. Here the
text is thus rendered: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the
ruler's staff from between his feet, till Shiloh come, and the willing
obedience of the nations be to him."

	"Notwithstanding the slight put upon the Messianic interpretation by some
writers, even those from whom we should scarcely expect it, we see this
explanation confirmed and not weakened in the events of history. The text is
not taken to mean that Judah should at no time be without a royal ruler of his
own, but that the regal power should not finally cease from Judah until Shiloh
had come. The objections founded on the Babylonian captivity, and similar
intermissions, are of no force, because it is the complete and final
termination which is pointed out, and that only happened after the time of
Christ." See further The Book of Prophecy, by G. Smith, I.L.D., p. 320. See
also Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, by Franklin D. Richards and
James A. Little, article "Christ's First Coming."

	3. Nephites and Lamanites. -- The progenitors of the Nephite nation were
led from Jerusalem, 600 B.C., by Lehi, a Jewish prophet of the tribe of
Manasseh. His immediate family, at the time of their departure from Jerusalem,
comprised his wife Sariah, and their sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi; at a
later stage of the history, daughters are mentioned, but whether any of these
were born before the family exodus we are not told. Beside his own family, the
colony of Lehi included Zoram, and Ishmael, the latter an Israelite of the
tribe of Ephraim. Ishmael, with his family, joined Lehi in the wilderness; and
his descendants were numbered with the nation of whom we are speaking. The
company journeyed somewhat east of south, keeping near the borders of the Red
Sea; then, changing their course to the eastward, crossed the peninsula of
Arabia; and there, on the shores of the Arabian Sea, built and provisioned a
vessel in which they committed themselves to divine care upon the waters.
Their voyage carried them eastward across the Indian Ocean, then over the
south Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, whereon they landed
(590 B.C.).... The people established themselves on what to them was the land
of promise; many children were born, and in the course of a few generations a
numerous posterity held possession of the land. After the death of Lehi, a
division occurred, some of the people accepting as their leader, Nephi, who
had been duly appointed to the prophetic office; while the rest proclaimed
Laman, the eldest of Lehi's sons, as their chief. Henceforth the divided
people were known as Nephites and Lamanites respectively. At times they
observed toward each other fairly friendly relations; but generally they were
opposed, the Lamanites manifesting implacable hatred and hostility toward
their Nephite kindred. The Nephites advanced in the arts of civilization,
built large cities and established prosperous commonwealths; yet they often
fell into transgression; and the Lord chastened them by allowing their foes to
become victorious. They spread northward, occupying the northern part of South
America; then, crossing the Isthmus, they extended their domain over the
southern, central and eastern portions of what is now the United States of
America. The Lamanites, while increasing in numbers, fell under the curse of
darkness; they became dark in skin and benighted in spirit, forgot the God of
their fathers, lived a wild nomadic life, and degenerated into the fallen
state in which the American Indians -- their lineal descendants -- were found
by those who rediscovered the western continent in later times. See Talmage,
Articles of Faith, pp. 258-60.

	4. The First Gospel Dispensation. -- The gospel of Jesus Christ was
revealed to Adam. Faith in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son the Savior
of Adam and all his posterity, repentance of sin, water baptism by immersion,
and the reception of the Holy Ghost as a divine bestowal were proclaimed in
the beginning of human history as the essentials to salvation. The following
scriptures attest this fact. "And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from
the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of
God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Moses 5:58).
The prophet Enoch thus testified: "But God hath made known unto our fathers
that all men must repent. And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice,
saying: I am God; I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. And
he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice,
and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in
water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth,
which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven,
whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall
ask, it shall be given you" (Moses 6:50-52; read also 53-61). "And now,
behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through
the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time" (62).
"And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that
Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord,
and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was
brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of
God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became
quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou
art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the
Father, and the Son, from henceforth and for ever" (64-66). Compare D&C 29:42.


                       CHAPTER 6 THE MERIDIAN OF TIME  

	Unto Moses, with whom the Lord spake "face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend," the course of the human race, both as then past and future,
was made known; and the coming of the Redeemer was recognized by him as the
event of greatest import in all the happenings to which the earth and its
inhabitants would be witness. The curse of God had aforetime fallen upon the
wicked, and upon the earth because of them, "For they would not hearken unto
his voice, nor believe on his Only Begotten Son, even him whom he declared
should come in the meridian of time, who was prepared from before the
foundation of the world." In this scripture appears the earliest mention of
the expressive and profoundly significant designation of the period in which
the Christ should appear -- the meridian of time. If the expression be
regarded as figurative, be it remembered the figure is the Lord's.

	The term "meridian," as commonly used, conveys the thought of a principal
division of time or space; thus we speak of the hours before the daily noon
as ante-meridian (a.m.) and those after noon as post-meridian (p.m.). So the
years and the centuries of human history are divided by the great event of the
birth of Jesus Christ. The years preceding that epoch-making occurrence are
now designated as time Before Christ (B.C.); while subsequent years are each
specified as a certain Year of our Lord, or, as in the Latin tongue, Anno
Domini (A.D.). Thus the world's chronology has been adjusted and systematized
with reference to the time of the Savior's birth; and this method of reckoning
is in use among all Christian nations. It is instructive to note that a
similar system was adopted by the isolated branch of the house of Israel that
had been brought from the land of Palestine to the western continent; for from
the appearance of the promised sign among the people betokening the birth of
Him who had been so abundantly predicted by their prophets, the Nephite
reckoning of the years, starting with the departure of Lehi and his colony
from Jerusalem, was superseded by the annals of the new era.

	The occasion of the Savior's advent was preappointed; and the time
thereof was specifically revealed through authorized prophets on each of the
hemispheres. The long history of the Israelitish nation had unfolded a
succession of events that found a relative culmination in the earthly mission
of the Messiah. That we may the better comprehend the true significance of the
Lord's life and ministry while in the flesh, some consideration should be
given to the political, social, and religious condition of the people amongst
whom He appeared and with whom He lived and died. Such consideration involves
at least a brief review of the antecedent history of the Hebrew nation. The
posterity of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob had early come to be known by the
title in which they took undying pride and found inspiring promise,
Israelites, or the children of Israel. Collectively they were so designated
throughout the dark days of their bondage in Egypt; so during the four
decades of the exodus and the return to the land of promise, and on through
the period of their prosperity as a mighty people under the administration of
the judges, and as a united monarchy during the successive reigns of Saul,
David, and Solomon.

	Immediately following the death of Solomon, about 975 B.C. according to
the most generally accepted chronology, the nation was disrupted by revolt.
The tribe of Judah, part of the tribe of Benjamin, and small remnants of a few
other tribes remained true to the royal succession, and accepted Rehoboam, son
of Solomon, as their king; while the rest, usually spoken of as the Ten
Tribes, broke their allegiance to the house of David, and made Jeroboam, an
Ephraimite, their king. The Ten Tribes retained the title Kingdom of Israel
though also known as Ephraim. Rehoboam and his adherents were distinctively
called the Kingdom of Judah. For about two hundred and fifty years the two
kingdoms maintained their separate autonomy; then, about 722 or 721 B.C., the
independent status of the Kingdom of Israel was destroyed, and the captive
people were transported to Assyria by Shalmanezer and others. Subsequently
they disappeared so completely as to be called the Lost Tribes. The Kingdom of
Judah was recognized as a nation for about one hundred and thirty years
longer; then, about 588 B.C., it was brought into subjection by
Nebuchadnezzar, through whom the Babylonian captivity was inaugurated. For
three score years and ten Judah was kept in exile and virtual bondage, in
consequence of their transgression as had been predicted through Jeremiah.
Then the Lord softened the hearts of their captors, and their restoration was
begun under the decree of Cyrus the Persian, who had subdued the Babylonian
kingdom. The Hebrew people were permitted to return to Judea, and to enter
upon the work of rebuilding the temple at Jerusalem.

	A great company of the exiled Hebrews availed themselves of this
opportunity to return to the lands of their fathers, though many elected to
remain in the country of their captivity, preferring Babylon to Israel. The
"whole congregation" of the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile were
but "forty and two thousand three hundred and three score, beside their
servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred
thirty and seven." The relatively small size of the migrating nation is
further shown by the register of their beasts of burden. While those who did
return strove valiantly to reestablish themselves as the house of David, and
to regain some measure of their former prestige and glory, the Jews were never
again a truly independent people. In turn they were preyed upon by Greece,
Egypt, and Syria; but about 164-163 B.C., the people threw off, in part at
least, the alien yoke, as a result of the patriotic revolt led by the
Maccabees, the most prominent of whom was Judas Maccabeus. The temple service,
which had been practically abolished through the proscription of victorious
foes, was reestablished. In the year 163 B.C., the sacred structure was
rededicated, and the joyful occasion was thereafter celebrated in annual
festival as the Feast of Dedication. During the reign of the Maccabees,
however, the temple fell into an almost ruinous condition, more as a result of
the inability of the reduced and impoverished people to maintain it than
through any further decline of religious zeal. In the hope of insuring a
greater measure of national protection, the jews entered into an unequal
alliance with the Romans and eventually became tributary to them, in which
condition the Jewish nation continued throughout the period of our Lord's
ministry. In the meridian of time Rome was virtually mistress of the world.
When Christ was born, Augustus Caesar was emperor of Rome, and the Idumean,
Herod, surnamed the Great, was the vassal king of Judea.

	Some semblance of national autonomy was maintained by the Jews under
Roman dominion, and their religious ceremonials were not seriously interfered
with. The established orders in the priesthood were recognized, and the
official acts of the national council, or Sanhedrin, were held to be binding
by Roman law; though the judicial powers of this body did not extend to the
infliction of capital punishment without the sanction of the imperial
executive. It was the established policy of Rome to allow to her tributary and
vassal peoples freedom in worship so long as the mythological deities, dear to
the Romans, were not maligned nor their altars desecrated.

	Needless to say, the Jews took not kindly to alien domination, though for
many generations they had been trained in that experience, their reduced
status having ranged from nominal vassalage to servile bondage. They were
already largely a dispersed people. All the Jews in Palestine at the time of
Christ's birth constituted but a small remnant of the great Davidic nation.
The Ten Tribes, distinctively the aforetime kingdom of Israel, had then long
been lost to history, and the people of Judah had been widely scattered among
the nations.

	In their relations with other peoples the Jews generally endeavored to
maintain a haughty exclusiveness, which brought upon them Gentile ridicule.
Under Mosaic law Israel had been required to keep apart from other nations;
they attached supreme importance to their Abrahamic lineage as children of the
covenant, "an holy people unto the Lord," whom He had chosen "to be a special
people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."
Judah had experienced the woeful effects of dalliance with pagan nations, and,
at the time we are now considering, a Jew who permitted himself unnecessary
association with a Gentile became an unclean being requiring ceremonial
cleansing to free him from defilement. Only in strict isolation did the
leaders find hope of insuring the perpetuity of the nation.

	It is no exaggeration to say that the Jews hated all other peoples and
were reciprocally despised and contemned by all others. They manifested
especial dislike for the Samaritans, perhaps because this people persisted in
their efforts to establish some claim of racial relationship. These Samaritans
were a mixed people, and were looked upon by the Jews as a mongrel lot,
unworthy of decent respect. When the Ten Tribes were led into captivity by the
king of Assyria, foreigners were sent to populate Samaria. These intermarried
with such Israelites as had escaped the captivity; and some modification of
the religion of Israel, embodying at least the profession of Jehovah worship,
survived in Samaria. The Samaritan rituals were regarded by the Jews as
unorthodox, and the people as reprobate. At the time of Christ the enmity
between Jew and Samaritan was so intense that travelers between Judea and
Galilee would make long detours rather than pass through the province of
Samaria which lay between. The Jews would have no dealings with the
Samaritans.

	The proud feeling of self-sufficiency, the obsession for exclusiveness
and separation -- so distinctively a Jewish trait at that time -- was
inculcated at the maternal knee and emphasized in synagog and school. The
Talmud, which in codified form post-dates the time of Christ's ministry,
enjoined all Jews against reading the books of alien nations, declaring that
none who so offended could consistently hope for Jehovah's favor. Josephus
gives his endorsement to similar injunction, and records that wisdom among the
Jews meant only familiarity with the law and ability to discourse thereon. A
thorough acquaintanceship with the law was demanded as strongly as other
studies were discountenanced. Thus the lines between learned and unlearned
came to be rigidly drawn; and, as an inevitable consequence those who were
accounted learned, or so considered themselves, looked down upon their
unscholarly fellows as a class distinct and inferior.

	Long before the birth of Christ, the Jews had ceased to be a united
people even in matters of the law, though the law was their chief reliance as
a means of maintaining national solidarity. As early as four score years after
the return from the Babylonian exile, and we know not with accuracy how much
earlier, there had come to be recognized, as men having authority, certain
scholars afterward known as scribes, and honored rabbis or teachers. In the
days of Ezra and Nehemiah these specialists in the law constituted a titled
class, to whom deference and honor were paid. Ezra is designated "the priest,
the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of
his statutes to Israel." The scribes of those days did valuable service under
Ezra, and later under Nehemiah, in compiling the sacred writings then extant;
and in Jewish usage those appointed as guardians and expounders of the law
came to be known as members of the Great Synagog, or Great Assembly,
concerning which we have little information through canonical channels.
According to Talmudic record, the organization consisted of one hundred and
twenty eminent scholars. The scope of their labors, according to the
admonition traditionally perpetuated by themselves, is thus expressed: Be
careful in judgment; set up many scholars, and make a hedge about the law.
They followed this behest by much study